The federal government is suing to recover back wages and damages from a now-closed restaurant outside Chapel Hill Mall in Akron.

The lawsuit, filed this week in U.S. District Court in Akron, seeks the recovery of $24,199 in unpaid wages and $23,472 in civil damages from Brown Derby Roadhouse, 1994 Brittain Road. The lawsuit also seeks to permanently prevent CPS Foods Ltd. and owner/managers Gillian Harris and Gary Harris from violating the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Cleveland attorney John Christie, who represents CPS Foods and Gillian and Gary Harris, said Wednesday he had not yet read the federal lawsuit and could not comment.

The restaurant has been closed since last fall, he said.

The Brittain Road restaurant is being sued by others for nonpayment of goods and services, according to filings from 2013 in Summit County Court of Common Pleas.

The federal lawsuit said a U.S. Department of Labor investigation found violations of minimum wage, overtime, child labor and record-keeping provisions of the Fair Labor act involving 18 restaurant employees.

The federal lawsuit said some employees were not paid wages and some had to pay a fee in order to work, meaning employees were paid less than the minimum wage during certain work weeks.

The lawsuit alleged an employee under the age of 18 operated a trash compactor in violation of labor regulations, saying that constituted “oppressive child labor.”